


and with your cheek touching mine, i feel so alive (and i ain't scared to die)

by stardustgirl



Series: you're the fire and the flood (a lightness in my step) [1]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Ambassador Sokka (Avatar), Angst, Angst with a Happy Ending, Bisexual Sokka (Avatar), Developing Relationship, Fake Character Death, Implied Sokka/Zuko (Avatar), Light Angst, M/M, Post-100 Year War (Avatar TV), Post-Canon, Protective Sokka (Avatar), Protective Zuko (Avatar), an intro, spymaster sokka au, the next one will be much longer i promise, this is like, to establish The Vibes(tm) that we're dealing with here
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-07-31
Updated: 2020-07-31
Packaged: 2021-03-05 19:54:52
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 691
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/25630903
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/stardustgirl/pseuds/stardustgirl
Summary: “I’mhere,” Sokka reminds him, pulling him back up from the depths of the pool of his thoughts he’d nearly drowned himself in.  “I’m here.”“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, for a moment I just– I thought what if you really had gone and—““But I didn’t, Zuko, I didn’t.  I’m still here.  Still here.  And I’ll kill them back.  For real this time.  After all,someone’sgotta return the favor.”Or; Sokka fakes his death, Zuko fakes his grief, and they both don long-abandoned masks.
Relationships: Sokka/Zuko (Avatar)
Series: you're the fire and the flood (a lightness in my step) [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1857967
Comments: 4
Kudos: 211





	and with your cheek touching mine, i feel so alive (and i ain't scared to die)

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this post](https://sword-over-water.tumblr.com/post/624600444394717184/beignetbenny-i-may-fuck-heavy-with-the-sokka#notes) and [this post](https://sword-over-water.tumblr.com/post/622675176852766720/lbibliophile-atla-snarling-through-our-smiles) (though the latter won't show up until later in the series), and basically this is like my take on the Spymaster Sokka AU started by zukkababey and sword-over-water on Tumblr. This will be a series of oneshots because my motivation for longfics is up in the air right now (and that way I don't have to worry about consistent chapter lengths nearly as much lol).
> 
> Title from "Til I Die" by Parsonsfield.

“My lord?”

The Fire Lord’s figure is obscured by flames, flames that are rumored around the palace to cause him just as much fear and anxiety as they do the palace staff. But that’s not the business of a servant.

 _Neither is his scar,_ their consciences whisper to all of them. Yet they wonder anyway.

“What?” The Fire Lord’s voice is as intriguing as his fire; it speaks to a grief that has no cause, a depth that has no shallows.

“The– the resident ambassador, my lord. There are—that is to say, there _were;_ they’ve been apprehended by now—some uprisings in the city, people saying– people saying that the Princess Azula should be put on the throne as she is the more talented—not that she actually _is,_ of course, your majesty, but just that people were _saying_ she was, and the Ambassador Sokka—“

The flames flare, only for a moment. But a moment is enough.

“What _about_ Ambassador Sokka?”

The messenger swallows, hard. “He– he went out into the city to– to protect you, my lord. And he– he was– he was killed for it, my lord.”

There is silence for a long, anxious moment. And then:

“Get. Out.”

“My lord, if you would like me to—“

“I said _get out!_ ”

The flames flare high, high, high until they reach the ceiling, and the messenger bows before turning and nearly sprinting out the door.

As the door shuts, he can hear the flames suddenly go silent, and then a deep, deep sob.

* * *

Zuko storms back to his chambers, a fury growing that flies into its full self the minute his door slams shut. He sets fire to curtains, to bedsheets, to paintings—except the turtleduck one, he likes the turtleduck one—and _screams_ wordlessly into the ether, as if he really _has_ lost his belo—

“Zuko, Zuko, I’m here.”

The fear leaves him and he _deflates_ in Sokka’s grasp, the imaginary fear he’d projected like a shield only moments before now leaving him like a gust of wind. Still very real and still very terrifying, however, is the fury towards those who thought that they _could_ kill his ambassador, that they _could_ kill Sokka simply because of his sister’s role in the final Agni Kai, simply because he’s a nonbender, simply because he should be on _their_ side but instead he isn’t—

“I’m _here,_ ” Sokka reminds him, pulling him back up from the depths of the pool of his thoughts he’d nearly drowned himself in. “I’m here.”

“I’m sorry, I’m sorry, for a moment I just– I thought what if you really _had_ gone and gotten yourself killed and the _audacity_ they had to—“

“But I didn’t, Zuko, I didn’t. I’m still here. Still here. And I’ll kill them back. For real this time. After all, _someone’s_ gotta return the favor.”

Zuko allows himself a moment, only a moment, to fall apart before drawing himself back together with a sharp inhale. “Okay,” he says. “Okay. So, Plan Guy...mind if we go over the plan again?”

Sokka smirks. “Not at all.”

* * *

That night, when Zuko is packing, Sokka approaches, stopping beside his bed. He wordlessly passes him a wooden blue mask, the paint scuffed in all the right places and worn down from sitting beneath a lake in the east for far too long.

Zuko takes it, staring at it for a long, long moment, and then slips it into his pack.

* * *

The next day, Zuko leaves for the South Pole, headed to help prepare for Sokka’s funeral.

Sokka, however, dons white and red and black makeup, cuts his hair so it’s too short to tie back, and heads east toward Kyoshi Island, a pair of fans tucked into his pack.

* * *

Zuko makes sure his ship stops at a port close enough to Ba Sing Se it will only be a week’s delay when he departs, headed for Lu Ten’s shrine and his uncle’s tea shop. And when they stop for the first night of the two-day journey, he removes his mask from his bag, grabs his dao swords, and disappears from his tent and into the night.


End file.
